Let's try to make it a bit shorter by using the min=(current<min?current:min)
expression. This is a ternary operator that is the same as saying if (current<min) min=current
.
Also, printf "%.2g%s", min[i], (i==NF?"\n":" ")
prints the new line on the END{}
block whenever it reaches the last field.
awk 'NR==1{for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) {min[i]=$i}; next}
{for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) { min[i]=(min[i]>$i?$i:min[i]); max[i]=(max[i]<$i?$i:max[i]) }}
END {printf "min: "; for (i=1;i<=NF;i++) printf "%.2g%s", min[i], (i==NF?"\n":" ");
printf "max: "; for (i=1;i<=NF;i++) printf "%.2g%s", max[i], (i==NF?"\n":" ")}' file
Sample output:
$ awk 'NR==1{for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) {min[i]=$i}; next} {for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) { min[i]=(min[i]>$i?$i:min[i]); max[i]=(max[i]<$i?$i:max[i]) }} END {printf "min: "; for (i=1;i<=NF;i++) printf "%.2g%s", min[i], (i==NF?"\n":" "); printf "max: "; for (i=1;i<=NF;i++) printf "%.2g%s", max[i], (i==NF?"\n":" ")}' file
min: 1 0 -1
max: 7 2 5